This application is for a Planning Grant for International Centers for Research on Complementary and Alternative Medicine (PICRC) in response to RFA AT-03-002. The goal of planning phase activities is to begin creation of the Functional Bowel Disorders and Traditional Chinese Medicine Research Group, with the participation of consortium members of three universities, The University of Maryland Center for Integrative Medicine, the Chinese University of Hong Kong, and the University of Illinois at Chicago Program for Collaborative Research in the Pharmaceutical Sciences. The consortium will develop a grant application for an International Center for Research on Complementary and Alternative Medicine (ICRC) to be submitted during the two-year planning phase, which will request funding to support three pilot projects related to irritable bowel syndrome and three cores: a Pharmacologic Core, a Data Management, Analysis, and Coordination Core, and an Administrative Core. The projects to be proposed will include 1) a rat model irritable bowel syndrome treatment trial using acupuncture and herbs, 2) a human pathophysiology pilot study on the effect of TCM on cerebral cortical activation and visceral sensation to rectal distension in IBS patients and non-IBS volunteers, and 3) Phase I and II clinical trials of TCM treatment in diarrhea-type IBS patients. Pilot studies in the animal model, standardization and authentication of the herbal preparation, and the techniques of human rectal distension in the functional MRI environment will be conducted in the planning phase to facilitate the projects to be proposed.